House Burch: An architectural project with function in mind, first and foremost

This white cube-shaped family home may look like a celebration of architectural form, but it is created with function in mind, first and foremost.

The house, in Byron Bay on the north coast of NSW, is designed to respond to the region’s harsh climate.

Forming part of a family home for a couple and their tribe of young children, the cube is an extension to a solid, but uninspiring, suburban bungalow constructed in the 1980s.

Due to the sound construction of the original house and the client’s budgetary considerations, architect Simon Addinall of boutique firm Those Architects decided to retain and add to the existing building.

The bungalow’s brown brick exterior was updated with a white render and the interior was transformed into a space for the children’s bedrooms as well as the residence’s bathrooms, laundry and storage facilities.

The new two-storey extension peeks over the original building’s roofline when viewed from the street, and houses the parents’ bedroom suite on the upper floor with the open-plan kitchen, living and dining area below.

Designed to make the most of the site’s relatively narrow 16 by 40-metre layout and east-west orientation, the addition hugs the southern boundary, allowing for a generous north-facing courtyard, with a pool constructed on the western edge so it is sheltered from the late afternoon sun.

Two additional courtyards – one at the back of the house, facing west, another at the front, looking east – ensure the residents have an outdoor space that can be used at any time.

The parents’ bedroom features a bank of casement windows that open to the north-east, capturing the cooling sea breezes in summer.

“Without trying to put other architects down, some may have shifted away from context as opposed to aesthetics. You see that up here, where you have long, hot summers – and most of the houses are all glass,” says Addinall, who co-founded Those Architects with his business partner Ben Mitchell in 2012.

“It makes sense for the houses to respond to that climate, rather than relying on aircon and other mechanical means to moderate the internal temperature.

“It’s a bit of a challenge sometimes to convince a client that you don’t need windows everywhere …designing buildings with more glass isn’t necessarily the smartest thing to be doing.”